A couple of weeks ago, I fielded a few questions about Yang style history during my Tai-Chi instructors' course in Irvine. Just now, goofing around on Wikipedia, I happened to find a great article.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yang_Lu-ch%27an
Please keep in mind that history has different interpretations, depending on your personal perspective, so I don't necessarily agree with all of this, however, I do think it to be worth reading.